Google Play Services v3.0 Adds Google+ Sign-In

Google today made a new version of Google Play Services available to Android developers. The big change in version 3.0 is the addition of Google+ sign-in. According to Google, this allows users to sign in to apps with their existing Google credentials and port in their Google+ data for an “upgraded experience.”

It behaves similar to how some apps allow users to create accounts and sign in via Facebook. Google thinks this will help developers gain traction with their apps by making them more interactive with Google’s own services. It will allow users to more easily share in-app content with Google+, as well. Google also today updated its Android Maps API for developers.

This update mainly fixes bugs, but also adds a few features such as new map shapes such as circles, and anti-clockwise polygons.

Android developers can access these new tools via the Android developer portal.